Did you know that kiwis and eggs are fluorescent? No? Then welcome to the world of fluorescence in natural products and everyday materials!
That's what a group of 16-year-old students discovered in our lab today. Besides identifying many fluorescent materials, the students learned fundamental concepts of fluorescence and gained real laboratory experience. By extracting fluorescent molecules from various materials, the students learned how the choice of solvent affects the extraction's efficiency and the resulting fluorescence's intensity and color.
Thank you to the students and supervisors Philippe-Quentin Liss, Marco Hasler, and Nina Franke.